Насељеници у Дојранском срезу између два светска рата
Settlers of Doiran Canton between the Two World Wars

Summary/Abstract: Doiran region was inhabited by settlers as well as with the natives between the two world wars. The settlers were Serbs coming from poor passive regions of the new state. Serbian settlers lived in the four settlements inhabited exclusively by Serb population. They had established said settlements and they also lived in another three settlements jointly with the natives. The settlers were Serbs coming from poor passive regions: Herzegovina, Bosnia, Lika, kordun, Dalmatia, Montenegro and Slavonia.They had left their hometowns to find a place with better living and surviving conditions. Most settlers had been warriors in the liberation wars led to free Serbian countries, commencing with Balkan wars to the completion of the Great War for Serbia. Many of the settlers were Serbs who applied, at the invitiation of Serbian government, to be volunteers in America and they participated as well in the Macedonian front, fought against Bulgarians and Germans, participated in the front breakthrough and persecuted their enemies as far as to Austria, Hungary and Italy. Numerous Serbs, Austro-Hungarian soldiers massively surrendered to Russians, organized themselves into voluntary missions, warred in Dobruja against Bulgarians and afterwards over Siberia, the ocean, the Suez canal and the Mediterranean sea reached the Macedonian front, participated in the front breakthrough and in the chase of their enemies. It turned out the settlers were good hosts, they adopted modern methods on how to cultivate land and they also helped the natives to improve land cultivation by using modern equipment and adequate methods related to land cultivation. Macedonian village Nikolić is placed between Dorian Lake and mountain Belasica. None of the inhabitants of this village know show the village acquired its name, which is quite far away from Serbia. I spoke to many Macedonians coming from all parts of Macedonia, but no one knew the exact answer. The name of the village was Nikolić even during the reign of Ottoman Empire. I asked some acquaintances, Serbs and the natives to endeavour to find out from some officials since when the village has carried this name. I hope this endeavour will be fruitful. The war that commenced in April 1941 buried all the hopes settlers had previously had. The war lasted briefly; Bulgarians came as occupants and persecuted Serbs back to Serbia. By expelling Serbs from South Serbia, Bulgarians provoked the rising in 1941. All Serbs coming from South Serbia were disembarked from trains in the town of Leskovac. The Commissariat for Refugees sent them to Jablanica promptly. There, they were accepted with open arms by partisan leaders, who were providing for them accommodation in the villages and were recruiting them into partisan squads. Those refugees from South Serbia were the ones responsible for having Jablanica free during the war. Destiny of houses that had once belonged to settlers before their persecution to Serbia is also worth mentioning. All the empty houses previously belonging to the settlers were battered down. In the village of Dušanovac, which had 49 new houses belonging to Serbs at the beginning of war, it cannot be by any means concluded that there was once a settlement inhabited by people. Wilderness, dense underbrush and blackberries occupy the area where once was the rural settlement. There are not any traces to countryside houses having been built from solid material, largely from stone. Not a trace to the church, not one stone, even though we know well that churches are built from massive and good-quality material, brick and stone. What was so powerful to reduce the whole village to rubble leaving no trace at all of a once existing settlement with around 50 new houses? Hamlet Raskrsnica, at the very border with Greece, was also destroyed.

• Details
• Contents